3 Ways to Stop Undermining Yourself at Work

From time to time, you may undermine yourself on the job with your behavior. This form of self-sabotage not only prevents you from performing at your full potential, but also gives colleagues and customers an opportunity to think less of you as an individual and professional.

With self-awareness, determination and practice, you can minimize these negative behaviors. Try this three-step process.

Name Your Behavior

The first step is to understand exactly how you undermine yourself. Three of the most common ways are:

• Dwelling on the Negative: Whether in a recurring internal dialogue or conversations with colleagues, the themes are the same. You focus on what is bad about your situation versus what is good, what is not possible versus what is. You remember all the bad things that have happened to you, not all the good things or your accomplishments.

• Falling into Work-Habit Traps: We all have bad work habits that act as traps we walk into again and again. Common examples include procrastination, tardiness, careless communication and sloppy work.

• Listening to Your Gremlins: Gremlins are the limiting beliefs and assumptions that subconsciously sabotage your progress. They tell you that you aren’t good enough somehow — that you’re not smart enough, not worthy enough or just not up to the challenge. They embody your biggest insecurities.